Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is set to be one of the most expansive Marvel stories ever put to film, with a truly dizzying number of characters set to appear.
During Sony’s CinemaCon presentation, via Rotten Tomatoes‘ Erik Davis, it was shared that the upcoming animated film will feature 240 characters – six times more than the first film. With a cast that large, it means the film has thrown a wide net for fans to theorize about.
Perhaps one of those 240 will be the much-berated Jared Leto portrayal of Michael Morbius in the latest Sony Spider-Man spin-off, with the Living Vampire having become a cult hero after starring in a terrible blockbuster that immediately became a source of fun and fascination.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was delayed last week, with the film now set to release in June 2023. Now that we know more details, perhaps the setback was necessary so that the design team can figure out a way to cram so many heroes, villains, sidekicks, variants, and whatever else we’re getting into the same frame.
It’d be an understatement to say that 240 individual figures in the same feature film is about as ambitious as it gets, with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse seeking to make the climactic third act battle of Avengers: Endgame look like a two-handed chamber piece by comparison, with the multiversal web-slinging sequel set to make Earth’s Mightiest Heroes look like a bunch of cobbled-together amateurs by comparison.